Often I feel I go to some distant region of the world to be reminded of who I really am.

When Michael Crichton -- a Harvard-trained physician, bestselling novelist, and successful movie director -- began to feel isolated in his own life, he decided to widen his horizons. He tracked wild animals in the jungles of Rwanda. He climbed Kilimanjaro and Mayan pyramids. He trekked across a landslide in Pakistan. He swam amid sharks in Tahiti.

Fueled by a powerful curiosity and the need to see, feel, and hear firsthand and close-up, Michael Crichton has experienced adventures as compelling as those he created in his books and films. These adventures -- both physical and spiritual -- are recorded here in Travels, Crichton's most astonishing and personal work.

Product Description

From Publishers Weekly

A Harvard medical-school graduate, inveterate traveler and author of, among other books, The Great Train Robbery (the film version of which he directed), Crichton seeks in immediate experience of new places and cultures to "redefine" himself and uncover the nature of reality. His curiosity and self-deprecating humor animate recitals of adventures tracking animals in Malay jungles, climbing Kilimanjaro and Mayan pyramids in the Yucatan, trekking across a landslide in Pakistan, scuba diving in the Caribbean and New Guinea and amid sharks in Tahiti. This memoir includes essays on his medical training and forays into the psychic, including channeling and exorcism, that have led him to conclude that scientists and mystics share the same basic search for universal truth by different paths. 75,000 first printing; BOMC alternate; Franklin Library First Edition selection. Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Crichton, an accomplished novelist and filmmaker, here gives us autobiography. The first quarter of the book chronicles his gradual disillusionment with medical school and his decision not to practice medicine. His accounts of visits to remote places in Asia and Africa present a perspective on his personal life. Shuffled among these chapters are accounts of psychic experiences that include channeling, exorcism, and spoon-bending and end with a defense of "paranormal experience." Crichton has had an interesting life, which he writes about in a crisp and disarmingly frank manner. His inner "travels" offer something for almost everyone.Harold M. Otness, Southern Oregon State Coll. Lib., AshlandCopyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Most helpful customer reviews

This is the only book of Michael Crichton that I was missing and so I bought it to complete my library. I knew not to expect a book of fiction because it is not one. What I did not expect was how much I was to enjoy it!

Besides small side-remarks, there is nothing about his childhood or his upbringing. These stories are the memoirs of an aspiring writer trapped into an Ivy League arc that was to land him an MD. But he got away. Well, maybe too far away...The first stories describe his ever growing disillusionment with both medicine and its practitioners. Later on Crichton goes into his personal journeys in life, both around the world and professionally. From inside Hollywood trivia to scuba diving tips; from exotic culture shocks to the benefits of meditation; and from escaping mortal danger in Jamaica to having his ...aura fluffed, no corner of Michael Crichton's mind remains obscured.

Crichton's insights may not always be easy to share but one has to appreciate his candor. Because of his untimely death, this book is a major part of his legacy.

I've been a fan of Crichton's fiction since I first read Jurassic Park years ago. I love how he mixes reality with the potential science of the future. The events in his novels may not be possible, but when Crichton tells the story you believe that they are plausible. Perhaps it is Crichton's attention to detail that makes the stories both so interesting as well as believable. It is this same attention to detail that makes Travels such an interesting book.Travels is a series of essays broken up into two sections. The first section deals with Crichton's time in medical school. These stories are very interesting as we get to see some of the inner working of hospitals, and some of the stuff that we wouldn't see on TV (and might not believe if we did). This was a fascinating section. The second section of the book was most of the book and it dealt with Crichton's travels. I'm not a huge fan of travel writing (normally), but I was blown away by the depth (or length) of Crichton's travels. He truly is a world traveler and we are told of his experiences climbing mountains, exploring remote corners of the world. Not only has Michael Crichton had several lifetimes of experience, but he tells the stories very well. Most are very short, but very interesting.I don't think that Travels will be a book that I have any interest in re-reading, but it was a good book to read once and I'm glad I did. Crichton has a lot of stories to tell and he tells them well.

When I was young I was an avid reader of Michael Crichton, I constantly admired his way as a writer to draw the reader in so conclusively and to keep them there.Travels is a WHOLE different story. This is a semi-autobiographical tale of the years after medical school and beyond. Now, this is not the usual autobiography, about how he fell in love or how he loves his job, this is a story of self discovery and search for himself. Much of the first half of the book covers travels around the world and different instances in his life that he wants to share. The second half discovers the paranormal, psychics, astral travel, and seeing auras. These are true tales of how he searches out the meanings and explanations for unexplainable things.This is by far my favorite book of all times. I cannot recommend this more. It has the same form of drawing the reader into the story, but also takes a more objective perspective on life, citing stories without holding back even when it makes him looks bad. You will find yourself within this book.

Cleverly named book... It doesn't just cover Crichton's geographical journeys, it covers his internal journeys as well... The book starts off with Crichton in university and describes not only his experience as a medical student, but also how he blossumed into the successful author that he is! It was fate (and a bit of heritage...).But apart from his travels all over the world, it is fascinating to start reading about his experimentation with the pychic world and all. True, there is a bit of a "I tried and tried and nothing seemed to happen, then suddenly it did" air about his experiences, a vague cynical suspicion (on my behalf) that is sounded terribly like a 'growing up in California' experience, and one had to wonder, would Crichton have done what he did if he hadn't been so successful so young in life... But, the fact is he did, and as long as you are an open minded individual this book will be a very interesting read!If on the other hand, you are looking for a straightforward autobiographical account of rags to riches and writers angst of an amazingly successful and thoroughly readable author, you will be disappointed. This book REALLY gives an insight into the Michael Crichton one wouldn't suspect from his fantastic and diverse novels and its actually, quite interesting...

Michael Crichton's deeply autobiographical work, Travels is as an exploration into a person's quest for understanding the world around him and within him. The reader is entertained with snippets of stories that begin in Mr. Crichton's days in medical school and end with a treatise on understanding reality that was to be delivered to a debunking society. Between these bookmarks, Crichton has visited many exotic locals (including northern Pakistan) in addition to quasi summer camps for spiritual growth, charkas, and other New Age topics.Crichton succeeds in writing about these inner travels as clinically as possible. He is not trying to "sell" you on his experience but rather just trying to get the reader to listen to him. He allows you to make up your mind and even towards the end of the book, he outright states, "Don't take my word for it. Go out and see for yourself."Travels is my favorite Crichton work because it covers most of his life as he transforms from a purely scientific individual to one who learns to accept that maybe science doesn't have all of the answers. We see how he challenges himself to look at things in a different way or have a new experience which he claims ultimately makes him a more well-rounded person.While Crichton is supporting the non-scientific world (i.e. psychics, metaphysicists etc.), he is quick to point out that that realm doesn't have all the answers either but that world cannot be discounted. You may not agree with some of the ideas presented in the book but Crichton doesn't necessarily want you to change your thinking. Rather he wants to get you thinking about ideas in a different way and that is the book's greatest value.